Morning Brief – September 26, 2011

Today’s Morning Brief is brought to you by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Click here for info on their Sept. 28 Big Thinking breakfast lecture on Parliament Hill, entitled “Food for Thought: Addressing the global food crisis”

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A decidedly Canadian call for “civil disobedience” — U.S. hearings begin on the Keystone pipeline — Angus has more to reveal about G8 spending in Muskoka — Tensions flare between bankers and regulators in Washington — Saudi women get the vote.

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Good Monday morning.

It sounds so orderly, so understated, so … quintessentially Canadian: “Mass protest featuring civil disobedience,” reads the notice, “10 a.m. Monday.” That display of “civil disobedience” is planned by the Council of Canadians and Greenpeace Canada to protest the Alberta oilsands. The faithful are to meet on Parliament Hill by the Centennial Flame. Try not to be late.

Things mightn’t be so civil to the south. Beginning this week, the U.S. State Department begins hearings in six states on the 2,700-kilometre Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry Alberta oilsands bitumen to the Texas gulf coast. Among those states is Nebraska, where the $7-billion pipeline has stoked statewide controversy. On one side are environmental critics of the oilsands, concerned with its environmental footprint and potential leaks; on the other, labour groups that see thousands of jobs at stake. Demonstrators on both sides will be bused in for public hearings in the state capital, Lincoln, and in Atkinson, population 1,700. Extra security will be called in to cope with the crowds.

After a weekend of being told to get a better handle on the eurozone debt crisis, Europe’s policymakers began taking steps Sunday to find new ways to stop Greece’s near-bankruptcy from doing more damage to the world economy. European officials have already committed $610 billion to a rescue plan but ways to beef it up are now being entertained. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the rescue fund needs to be permanent so countries that are insolvent can be restructured in the same way banks are today.

Whatever came out of Washington seems to have had a negative effect on Asian markets, a positive effect on European markets, and little effect on North American markets. Asian stocks dropped early and stayed down. One Citigroup analyst predicts Asia will retreat a further 35 per cent. In Europe, stock markets are up across the board. Equity futures in New York are up slightly and in Toronto are flat, driven mostly by a slowdown in demand for commodities.

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney came in for some harsh criticism at those weekend meetings from Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase. In a speech to bankers, Carney, a former senior executive with Goldman Sachs, said the world’s largest banks should accept stricter regulation and capital surcharge as a way to strengthen public confidence in the international financial system. In a closed-door meeting in Washington that lay bare the tensions between bankers and officials over financial regulations, an angry Dimon charged that Carney’s proposals were “anti-American.”

NDP MP Charlie Angus meets with the media this morning with more revelations about public spending in Tony Clement’s Muskoka riding for the 2010 G8 summit. Among today’s revelations, as reported by PostMedia: The mayor of Huntsville Claude Doughty was told all payments from the $45.7-million fund targeted for beautification projects in Muskoka would be delayed several weeks so a deputy minister from the infrastructure department could review the payments. He complained to Clement in an email: “This is totally unacceptable.” Clement responded: “I agree. I’m working on it.” However, Clement did not contact officials to sideline the review, Infrastructure Canada Minister Denis Lebel has insisted.

Kenya’s Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai has died in Nairobi while undergoing cancer treatment, BBC is reporting. The Kenyan MP won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for promoting conservation, women’s rights and transparent government – the first African woman to get the award.

Getting guns out of the hands of young, heavily armed rebels in Libya is a way for Canada to help bring lasting peace to the region, says Canada’s envoy to Tripoli. Sandra McCardell says Libya has a strong economic base on which build a functioning democracy. But the rebuilding will be much harder if Libya remains the heavily armed society it is today. MPs will vote today on a motion to extend the military mission in Libya. The NDP will oppose the motion, the Liberals will support the Conservative government.

Also:

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has decided women in the kingdom will be allowed to vote and run for office in future municipal elections. The king announced the historic change in a five-minute speech on Saudi state television on Sunday. The ban on women driving continues, however.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomes the Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, this morning on Parliament Hill, just in time for the oil sands protest.

On iPolitics.ca today is an except from the book Democratizing the Constitution: Reforming Responsible Government by Mark D. Jarvis, Lori Turnbull and the late Peter Aucoin. The excerpt explores the role of partisanship in politics and contends the lack of a shared understanding of the “unwritten rules” of the Constitution has allowed prime ministers “to control the functioning of Parliament.” You can read the excerpt here.

On the schedule for today:

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is in Paris to participate in a G-20 labour and employment ministerial meeting.

Environment Minister Peter Kent will join representatives of Ducks Unlimited to announce conservation of a wildlife habit at Lochaber-Ouest, Que.

In Toronto, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival presents Christopher Plummer with a lifetime achievement award. Gordon Pinsent will do the honours.

Gov. Gen. David Johnston is in British Columbia and will visit Victoria City Hall and CFB Esquimalt.

Former U.S. vice-president and new author Dick Cheney is in Vancouver to visit with the Bon Mot book club.

And get those phone calls to Washington out of the way because, with a shutdown looming, it’s hard to tell how long the U.S. federal government plans to keep working.

And with that, you’re good to go. Make your Monday a good one. Here are the morning’s top headlines.